Royal Mail fails to deliver on dead brother’s cheque

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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THE Royal Mail has apologised to a Burton man who accused the company of being ‘incompetent’ after having to wait three months for money it owed to his late brother.

Tony Henson, from Short Street, Stapenhill, has been trying to get the postal giant to send him a cheque for £16.85p ever since his 76-year-old brother, Ivan, died on March 13.

The money, for a cancelled mail redirection service, was returned to Ivan in a cheque shortly before he died, but he never got round to cashing it.

Mr Henson claims he has made ‘eight or nine’ phone calls and sent two letters to Royal Mail since, but despite assurances from its staff that a cheque was on its way, he is still waiting.

He told the Mail: “It took two phone calls just for them to tell me I needed to send off my brother’s death certificate, which I did. I have made several calls since and each time they tell me ‘the cheque is in the post’.
“I’m still waiting.
“I know it’s only a small amount of money, but it just shows the total incompetence of Royal Mail.
“Getting through to their call centre is a trial on its own and once you do, they’re a waste of space.
“This has taken nearly three months now and I still haven’t got my cheque. It’s absolutely crazy.” The sum in question stems from Ivan Henson’s bid to get his mail redirected when he moved from his home in Gloucestershire to a nearby nursing home. He paid for the service but his money was returned after the Royal Mail said it was unable to provide the service, and he never got round to cashing the cheque before he died.

After being contacted by the Mail, the Royal Mail apologised to Mr Henson and promised to send him the money.

A spokesman said: “We are dispatching a cheque immediately to Mr Henson and will be writing to him to offer our sincere apologies for the delay in sorting out this issue at what must have been a very difficult time.”

[Lounge Lizard]

"I know it’s only a small amount of money, but" the local rag thrives on 'news' stories like this.

[POSTMAN]

What does he want RM to do,send out cheques on a wim after a phone call?

[andy2007]

No. But surely it's not too much to ask for them to cancel the original cheque, and send a replacement out, is it?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Thing is and I am 95% certain of this as I dealt with a death myself. Any cheque in the name of the deceased can be paid into their old account by the "executor". Ok they might have to have proof of death and other documents but they should still be able to bank the cheque it is then distributed fairly among the surviving relatives or as the Will instructs.

[andy2007]

In that case, why have they been mythering RM, and causing all this bad publicity?